The Daily Wrap

Today on The Dish, Andrew explained what our soon-to-be-independent business model was, as well as made clear how transparent the Dish would be (and why) before then releasing the overwhelmingly-positive data from our first 24 hours signing up members. Andrew also went through more reader responses to our announcement and appreciated Jay Rosen’s appraisal of the “mutualized journalism” the Dish is trying to do. In other IndieDish coverage, Dean Starkman questioned the likelihood that others could follow our lead, Jeff Bercovici passed alongThe Atlantic’s new thoughts regarding a pay-meter of their own, and @MelloMcGee mashed up MGM with the Dish’s independence in our Tweet Of The Day.

Andrew also responded at length to the pending investigation of the CIA’s involvement in Zero Dark Thirty, tried to unpack the polarized vitriol between conservatives and liberals, and called out the Obama administration for its “indefensible secrecy” regarding the assassination of US citizens who wage war on the US.

In political coverage, David Brooks noted the GOP’s fiscal rock-and-a-hard-place, Tim Huelskamp pushed back on the idea the the full House GOP really supported Speaker Boehner, hunter Ari LeVaux took on the NRA, and David Gutting claimed that Obama rolled the GOP with the fiscal cliff deal. We also explored Al Jazeera’s purchased-entry into the US television market, about which Pamela Geller made a deranged statement to earn herself a Malkin Award nomination. Looking overseas, Ackerman tried to make sense of the newest death toll out of Syria, Jacob Newberry was troubled by reverse exploitation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Keith Humphreys questioned pot’s profitability for drug cartels, Max Paris surveyed the sad state of the Kyoto climate change treaty, and we learned about China’s democratic near-miss of a hundred years ago.

In assorted coverage, Drum highlighted the link between lead exposure and crime rates, Eric Moll detailed what we could do to combat fossil fuels, Ian Frazier lamented modernity’s lack of mystery, Adam Green introduced us to the world’s greatest pickpocket, and Tom Jacobs examined the psychological power of a woman in high heels. Also, Evgeny Morozov dispelled the environmental friendliness of telecommuting, a reader further explained the dangers of eating fructose, Jelani Cobb pointed out that Django Unchained was “a riff on the mythology we’ve mistaken for history”, and Willoughby Cooke stood up for the typically over-worked and under-paid line cook. We then wondered if being a little overweight might actually be good for us, again contemplated the universe’s possible opinion of humanity, considered the interactions generated by provocative-book reading in public, saw a Brooklyn substation through the VFYW, literally took a second look at 2012 in today’s MHB, and an owl was inventoried in our FOTD.

Once again, please consider joining the Dish as a founding member here, and a massive thank you to the nearly 12,000 of you who already have.